Abstract
BACKGROUND: Medical emergency situations can be highly distressing for patients and potentially lead to the development of psychological disorders. While psychological care and interventions are of obvious necessity to assist patients when coping with emergency situations, research regarding appropriate psychological care of prehospital and clinical emergency patients is limited. This scoping review provides an overview of the current state of research in emergency medicine with particular focus on communication strategies as well as psychological interventions. The aim is to present an overview of the psychological support recommended for or available to emergency patients. METHODS: PubMed and PsycInfo were searched for eligible articles on psychological interventions or communication styles that assist acute and emergency adult patients in coping with the critical incident. The search started in June 2023 and was repeated in June 2024. RESULTS: The literature search resulted in 1080 articles. Ultimately, 26 articles were eligible for inclusion. The majority of articles focused on major and general trauma patients. Study settings involved emergency rooms, emergency medical services, burn units, intensive care units and other acute medical settings, such as maternity wards. While research results are heterogeneous due to a wide variety of interventions, there is evidence that patients require (psycho-)education and information regarding diagnosis and treatment to reduce psychological distress and maintain or regain mental health. CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review shows that the existing interventions and recommendations are too heterogeneous to recommend a universal approach for healthcare professionals. Nevertheless, (psycho-)education and informing patients has been demonstrated to be an effective means of reducing patients’ psychological distress and maintaining mental health. Further research is required to identify the most effective methods for assisting patients. REGISTRATION NUMBER: This scoping review was registered with the Open Science Framework on 29 May 2024 (DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/GJ4EX). Clinical trial number: not applicable. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12873-026-01494-y.